, 1887-05-26
RIVAL PETROLEUM POWERS.
Competition between .he United STATE.
and kussiA-nurmah,a OIL MnIIa

Competition Between .he United statc-
aud Russia-Burmab's oil Wells.
The United States and Russia are now
rival petroleum powers. Within ten
years h Paris Rothschilds have invested
10000, 900 in the Baku oil fields. and
the engineering skill of Ludwig Nobel has
made the Caspian district the center Of a
gigantic commercial enterprise. The an
nuaI production of lamp oil in that quar-
ter o exceeds 125, 900, 900 gallons; Il
great fleet of tank steamers has been
built; thousands of tank cars are running
on Russian railways; 100 miles of pipe
line have been laid; the export OF LIQUID
fuel reaches 115, 000, 900 gallons yearly;
and the petroleum trade On the continent
has been revolutionized. The loss of
American trade in Europe caused by the
development of the Baku oil fields has been
made up by An increase of the
export Of petroleum to Australia and In
Ola. Russia is now attempting to com
pete with America by shipping oil from
Batoum to Bombay; and by the acquisi-
ton OF Burmah England has it in her
power to enter the field as a formidable
rival for the control Of the Indian and
Australian market.
MIR. Charles Marvin has recently pub
nshed an incisive pamphlet on this new
held for British enterprise. He describes
the Burmese oil fields as immensely valu-
III and capable of indefinite extension.
III chief deposits are at Yenangyoung
lrawady, about sixty miles above the
terminus of the Rangoon railway; and
there are additional fields in Assam and
IN two Islands on the coast of Burmah.
The existence Of the oil field has been
known for q century, but the industry is
stH as undeveloped as Baku was ten
years ago. The deepest well does not go
below 400 feet, and the total product
shipped In 1884 TO fsangoon did not
exceed LOCO, 900 gallons. The director
OF the geological survey of India, who
has carefully explored the region, pre-
dlcts that under proper management and
with improved engineering processes an
enormous export trade can be established.
he considers it a safe prophecy THAT the
OIL measures OF eastern India may be
supplying half the world with light
within a measurable time when the Amer
lean OIL pools have run dry" Mr.. Mar
vim, taking up the parable, pronounces
England's prospects as a petroleum power
as unsurpassed. since the Burmah wells
are in~exhaustible and most conveniently
o'oo'ou III supplying Ine lndlan and
Australian as well as the European mar
ket. The oil deposits are neal the coast,
and can be connected easily with Ran
COON by railway and pipe line. All that
Is needed, in his opinion, for making Eng
and a successful rival of the United
States and Russia is capital aided by en-
gineering genius.
The same objection which was urged
against the development of the Baku oil
district applies to Burmah. While from
100 gallons Of crude petroleum in Penn
sylvania se~venty-fve gallons of lamp oil
can be obtained, the proportion is much
lower for the competing fields. Baku
crude yields only thirty gallons of lamp
oil and Yenangyoung even less. MI.
Marvin, while contending that it is pre-
mature to judge of the quality Of Bur-
NAH petroleum until deeper borings are
made, is willing to take the proportion as
1t stands and to guarantee extraordinary
prosperity to this new British industry
New York Tribune.